News

British Airways axes B747-8(F) contract with Atlas Air

British Airways (BA, London Heathrow) has prematurely terminated a lease contract with Atlas Air (5Y, New York JFK) for three B747-8(F)s operated by Global Supply Systems (GSS, London Stansted). The move follows British Airways' recent decision to exit the dedicated cargo-freighter service by the end of April 2014. Atlas says it will receive early termination fees for the contract. IAG Cargo CEO Steve Gunning told CargoFacts.net: “We have reviewed our long haul freighter program following the merger of British Airways and Iberia freight businesses to create IAG Cargo. The review took account of the growing cargo capacity available to us from our passenger fleet as well as the outlook for the air freight industry overall and we have made the strategic decision to significantly revise our long haul freighter program.” Beginning May 2014, IAG Cargo will only retain one scheduled cargo route with 5x weekly B777-F flights between London and Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok. This service will be operated by Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad Int'l) on behalf of IAG Cargo.

Also on ch-aviation

Lao Central Airlines (LF, Vientiane) has revised its planned resumption of services date from mid year, to year-end airline chairman and chairman of its parent firm, Phongsavanh Group, Prof. Od Phongsavanh, has said. The relaunch will be timed to coincide with Laos' entry into the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) common market.

Aer Lingus (EI, Dublin Int'l) has again come out in support of a renewed takeover bid by the International Airlines Group, parent to British Airways, Vueling Airlines, and Iberia. On Friday, the Irish carrier's board said that as the IAG had provided it with further clarification on its plans for the Irish carrier, it was now recommending the IAG's revised EUR1.36 billion (USD1.54 billion) proposal as being 'in the best interests of Aer Lingus’ shareholders.'

Alitalia (AZ, Rome Fiumicino) shareholder, Poste Italiane, has been cleared of breaching European state-aid rules regarding its participation in a EUR500 million rescue package engineered by the Italian government in 2013.

In its ruling, the European Commission said the Italian state-run postal service's EUR75 million investment in Alitalia was done under terms and conditions comparable to those of two private operators (a so-called pari passu transaction).